Here are some selected survey results from the recent 18-month surveys! Thanks to those who participated – it’s so fun to see how our now-toddlers are progressing (doesn’t it feel like we were flooded with birth announcements not so long ago?)

Note: NA answers are removed from totals. These answers are not de-duplicated, so multiple parents might have answered for the same child (and in some cases a parent answered once for multiple Marchling twins).

Who took the survey?

There were 166 responses, 156 of whom answered the first question.

Gender identity: 92 percent of survey-takers identify as women, and 7 percent identify as men, while 1 percent identify as another gender.

Age: The maximum age of survey-takers is 48 and the minimum age is 25.

Number of kids:

77 percent of survey-takers have just one kid!

Enjoyment of parenting

The majority of parents who took the survey enjoy parenting quite a lot, while some might be struggling right now and looking forward to future parenting horizons. No survey taker answered less than 2 on a scale of 1-5.

All about the Marchlings

The toddlers in the group have a ton of personality, and we see them shine in all different ways!

Our favorite Marchling traits

Our Marchlings’ favorite activities

Playtime takes on a variety of modes, including a lot of playing with siblings.

Favorite toys

Marchlings gravitate towards cars and stuffed toys, with a healthy dose of books!

How many teeth?

OK, it turns out a lot of us don’t really know how many teeth our kid has, and we’re not willing to stick our fingers in to find out. The lowest number of teeth reported was 2, and 18 was on the high end! Several babies have all the baby teeth they’ll need for the next few years, and for many, the fun is still to come…

Milestones

Of those who entered one or more milestones, around a quarter of Marchlings are already jumping! It’s always good to remember that “March Bumpers” includes a wide range of ages & milestone achievements come in so many forms.

milestone N Percent
Walking 152 92%
Turn pages of a book 151 91%
Using a spoon/fork 137 83%
Climbing upstairs solo 136 82%
Dancing 130 78%
Running 128 77%
Rolling a ball 127 77%
Hiding 111 67%
Walking backward 99 60%
Using an open cup 89 54%
Singing 84 51%
Kicking a ball 79 48%
Taking clothes off 65 39%
Walking upstairs 62 37%
Put two or three words together 53 32%
Putting clothes on 47 28%
Jumping 42 25%

Some of our toddlers are hitting quite a few of the milestones listed, while most are somewhere in the middle – and we’re all waiting to see what they get into next…

First Words

Some Marchlings communicate using sign language or other means, while many kids started talking with mom/dad equivalents – animals and pet names are also popular first words!

First word N Percent
Dad/dada 38 32%
Mama/mum 34 29%
Cat/kitty 11 9%
Hi 8 7%
Pet’s name 5 4%
Dog 4 3%
Uh oh 4 3%
Up 4 3%
No words yet! 3 3%
Ball 3 3%
Food-related 3 3%
Meow 2 2%

Favorite Books

These little ones love their books – over 100 distinct books were mentioned! Here are those that got more than one favorite (and some kids just like ’em all!)

Favorite book N
Brown Bear, Brown Bear 6
All Of Them 3
Dear Zoo 3
Llama Llama Red Pajama 2
The Very Hungry Caterpillar 2
100 First Words 2
Moo Baa Lalala 2
Spot 2
I Am A Bunny 2
Goodnight Moon 2

Food, food, food

Our babies started out with a mix of feeding strategies (nursing, formula, pumping, all of the above…) – and now they’re eating food along with us. Twenty-five percent of Marchlings in the survey still nurse sometimes, in varying amounts!

Favorite Foods

Whether nursing or not, mealtimes play a big role in all of our lives. Below are Marchlings’ favorite foods that had more than one vote – yes, many of our kids like berries.

Favorite food N
Cheese 22
Blueberries 15
Fruit 12
Raspberries 7
Pasta 6
Banana 4
Yogurt 4
Pizza 4
Beans/legumes 4
Strawberries 3
Sausage 2
Peas 2
French fries 2
Crackers 2
Berries 2

Mealtimes

Most of our toddlers eat 4-6 times per day.

About 13% of survey takers reported that mealtimes were “somewhat” to “very” stressful.

Childcare

Childcare for our kids comes in all forms.

Childcare used N Percent
Day care 66 42%
Stay at home parent 45 28%
Grandparent 19 12%
Work from home parent 14 9%
In-home nanny or au pair 7 4%
Out-of-home nanny 5 3%
Home daycare 1 1%
Opposite shift as partner 1 1%

Many of us are also spending quite a bit of money on childcare! Home daycares and nannies/au pairs tend to cost the most, while some work from home/stay at home parents still have ample childcare costs. The average daycare cost is between $1,000 and $1,500 per month!

The cost of childcare takes its toll differently on families with different resources. Paying for childcare on less than $50,000 income is incredibly challenging.

How we’re feeling as parents

It’s true that parenting any toddler is both exhausting and rewarding. And, repeating it doesn’t make it any less true – parenting a toddler born at the beginning of a global pandemic brings a truly unique set of anxieties as well as sources of joy as we figure out how to introduce our kids to the world.

What is making us most anxious?

Yes, another word cloud – this visualization makes it clear what’s on our mind these days.

What overwhelms us the most?

Note the prominence of word “trying” here – we are all trying to do so much, and we’re all succeeding at a lot – it’s important to give ourselves some grace when we can’t do everything.

And yet – there’s so much to look forward to…

…and so much bringing us joy:

All in all, we have a great community of wonderfully unique toddlers who are all learning, growing, and showing us their personalities in new ways every day.

Bonus content

The rest of the charts, sans commentary: